A Philadelphia-based recycling firm has set up shop in Charlotte to extract biofuel out of the foulest waste from commercial kitchens.

BlackGold Biofuels is operating a 52,000-square-foot facility at 4826 Worth Place, off Brookshire Boulevard, that takes grease-trap wastewater from restaurants. “What we are talking about is not golden fryer oil,” says BlackGold Biofuels founder and Chief Executive Emily Landsburg. “It’s highly degraded wastewater that’s mixed with mop strings, lettuce salad, plastic forks. It’s a soupy jambalaya of waste. That material is historically not used for biofuel.”

The company churns through an average 50,000 gallons per day recycling fats, greases and oils. On Monday, BlackGold Biofuels processed its local record of 59,000 gallons. And the company is gearing up for more in a facility that’s the first of its kind in the area.

The company makes money on both ends.

Vendors that pump out commercial kitchen grease traps pay BlackGold — instead of a landfill — to take the wastewater. And then BlackGold’s end product is sold as a biofuel.

BlackGold Biofuel is able to separate out the clean water and trash solids while harvesting oils, fats and greases into a substance called “brown grease” that’s sold as a commodity.

The “brown grease” is a type of biofuel as is, or it can be improved into biodiesel. The remaining organic material can be used for composting or bio-digestion.

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